EE108B: Digital Systems II

Information Sheet

http://eeclass.stanford.edu/ee108b

 

 

Time & Location:

                  Lectures: Tuesday & Thursday 12.50pm – 2.05pm        Skilling Auditorium.

                  Review sessions: Friday 1:15pm - 2:05pm, Skilling 193

                  The lectures are also available online through SCPD

 

 

Instructor:                       Christos Kozyrakis

                 Email:                                        christos (at) ee.stanford.edu

                 Office:                                       Gates Hall, Room 304

                 Telephone:                                 650-725-3716

                 Office Hours:                             Mon 2pm - 3pm

 

 

Teaching Assistants:      Raunaq Shah, Pradeep Joginipally, Daryl Ng

                Email:                                        ee108b-win0809-tas (at) lists.stanford.edu

                Office Hours:                             See announcement on class website

                Location:                                   See announcement on class website


 

Course Support:             Teresa Lynn

               Email:                                          tlynn (at) csl.stanford.edu

               Office:                                         Gates Hall, Room 305

               Telephone:                                   650-724-6540

 
**Printed handouts are available in Gates 3rd floor lobby filing cabinet.**

 

Handouts are also available on the web.


Mailing List:      A class mailing list will be used for important or late-breaking announcements. Sign up on eeclass for this mailing list as soon as possible.

 

Grading:             Tentative grading scheme is as follows:

 

                                    Homeworks:                            20 %

                                    Programming/Lab Projects:      25 %

                                    Quizzes (I and II) :    55 %

 

Units:                 This class is offered for 3 or 4 units as either a letter grade or a CR/NC course. If you take the class for 4 units, must complete the digital design laboratory assignments. All Electrical Engineering undergraduates must enroll for 4 units. All other students must enroll for 3 units.


Prerequisites:    All students are expected to have completed E40 Introductory Electronics and CS106B or CS106X Programming Methodology and Abstractions. If you intend to take this class for 4 units,   you must also have taken EE108A (or EE121) prior to enrolling in this course. Do not enroll in the class if you do have not taken the proper prerequisites.

 

Text:                  The required text for this course is Computer Organization & Design: The Hardware/Software Interface, David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy, 4rd Edition, Morgan-Kaufmann, 2008. The book is available at the Stanford Bookstore and one copy is on reserve at Terman Engineering Library. Do not use older editions of the textbook.

 

Website:            The class website is located at: http://eeclass.stanford.edu/ee108b.

                        All important class information including lecture notes, homework assignments and solutions, and past exams will be posted to this site.  The website also includes a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section for homeworks and programming projects.  Check the website frequently since new information and announcements will be added regularly. You will need to sign up on the class website.

 

Homeworks:    There will be five homeworks during the quarter.  Solving the homework is critical to learning the material and understanding the concepts presented in this course.  Since there is often a significant benefit to teamwork, students can work in groups of two.  A single copy of the answers should be submitted with both students’ names.  Homeworks are due at 5:00pm – put in box by Gates Room 305.

 

Programming     There will be two programming assignments during the quarter, both of which must be completed individually.

Assignments:    Students who take the class for 4 units do not have to do the programming assignments. The programming projects will be written in MIPS assembly using the spim MIPS simulator available on the Leland machines.  SCPD students can use those workstations (either by visiting campus or remotely) or install spim on their own local machines (the course staff cannot support machines other than the Leland systems, however).  Links to spim documentation will be provided.  You are encouraged to discuss the programming assignment, algorithms, tricky conditions, testing strategies, etc. with other students, but you must independently write your own solution.  Submitting code written by another person is considered a violation of the Honor Code.  All programming assignments will be submitted electronically and must be submitted by 11:59pm on the due date.  Instructions for electronic submission will be provided with the assignments.

 

Laboratory         For students taking the class for 4 units, there will be four laboratory projects during the

Projects:            quarter, all of which must be completed in groups of two students.  The laboratory projects will use the facilities in the digital design laboratory in Packard 129. The projects will use modern Xilinx programmable logic devices to implement components of processor based systems. A short (3 pages) written report and a demonstration of the working project are required for each project. Project demos are due by 5:00pm. Reports are submitted electronically by 11:59pm on the due date.

 

Late Policy:       There are no late days or extensions for homework, programming assignments, or laboratory projects. You should carefully consider the class schedule and your other obligations to ensure you can meet all requirements by the corresponding deadlines. We strongly recommend that you start working on assignments as early as possible.

 

Quizzes:             There will be two quizes on the following dates:

 

Quiz 1:

Friday, Feb 6

Room: TBD                     Time: TBD

Quiz 2:

Thursday, March 12

Skilling Auditorium           12.50pm - 2.05pm

 

                         Note that that quiz 2 is in-class. Both quizzes are closed-book but you are allowed to bring a single page of notes (with notes on either side of the page).  No electronic devices other than a calculator will be permitted.  Quizzes can be rescheduled only for legitimate conflicts with other courses or for extenuating circumstances and well documented such as sickness, death in the family, etc. If you require special arrangements due to a disability or other medical condition, please contact the Stanford Disability Resource Center (DRC) as soon as possible. They will evaluate your case and instruct us on the best possible arrangements for you. Apart from the quizes, there will be no other exams (e.g., no final exam).  

 

Section:              The TAs will arrange a weekly review session on Fridays on Friday afternoon.  These sessions clarify topics covered during lecture and review special topics.  Attendance is optional, but highly recommended.  The sessions will be televised and available via Stanford Online.

 

Honor Code:        The Honor Code is taken seriously in this course and suspected violations are referred to the Office of Judicial Affairs.  Expectations for this course are covered in detail in the Honor Code handout.